After the fire, a burned and injured Mack turned up in the Sonoma County Animal Services, which put him on posters and in videos with nickname, Aspen.

When Wallace saw those pictures after a long search, the family went to claim Mack, but never saw him at the shelter. Mack may have been in the burn ward.

"The whole family was there, in the waiting room," she said.

Later, they learned that, almost two months after the fire, the shelter had found Mack a new home. It was an honest mistake, but Wallace wanted her cat back and pressed her case.

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The shelter did a DNA test.

"We worked with UC Davis," said shelter spokesman Scott Alonso. "Aspen is the same exact cat as Mack."

Wallace and her family invoked a unique Santa Rosa ordinance that allows families of lost-then-adopted pets to file a claim and get the pet back. Only, Mack's new people, who named him Phoenix, do not want to give him up.

"There is no precedent for this," said Alonso. The new people, whom he will not identify, told him they "have developed a bond with the cat."

"You cannot change the name of a cat to make him someone else," said Wallace. "Mack/Phoenix is still Mack. They are very selfish, thinking about their own feelings. This affects everyone in my family. We are not whole without him."

For now, Mack, previously known as Aspen and now Phoenix, remains in limbo. The shelter is serving as a go-between.